You don't need a reason to help people. ~Zidane TribalGeez. Why are adults so pigheaded? ~PalomHow do you prove that we exist? Maybe we don't exist... ~Vivi OrunitiaThe only dependable thing about the future is uncertainty. ~Amarant Coral

Indeed, but some people seem to have the gift of "sensitively knowing what to say" to those they've known only a short while. Susan, for example. That doesn't come so easily to Penny, except with Sara, whom she's been friends with since age nine or so. Even when it came to her second-oldest friend, Michelle, suffering a far more serious crisis--her eating disorder--Penny relied on her usual bluntness, and when that had no effect, she lost her cool and screamed at Michelle, then broke down crying. Now granted, that ended up working, but it's not normally what you'd want to resort to in helping people you care about, regardless of how long you've known them.